Dec 152016
 

Really vintage.

T.he world’s oldest water is even more ancient than we realised

In a three-kilometer deep mine under Canada, researchers have found a supply of water that’s about 2 billion years old (based on measurements of noble gases dissolved in the water). Article includes discussion of ongoing chemistry that could provide an energy source adequate to the task of maintaining a microbial ecosystem, trapped in place and separated from the rest of the world for *billions* of years. If such an ecosystem was trapped in place in a reservoir like this billions of years ago, I’d bet that the genetic connection between the life *there* and the life *here* would be pretty minimal.

 Posted by at 12:17 am